AUTHOR'S FACT :-
Author's favourite festival is Diwali. What's yours???? Comment down below.
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NARRATOR'S P.O.V

Sun shined brightly in the sky. Summers had already showed it's presence in the early days of May. The weather was expected to not deviate until mid June as that's when the monsoon rains began. All in all nobody had any complaints with the weather, contrastingly they all were traced celebrating the early summer. The annual fete was just one week away and therefore the organisers were in chaos. Quite a few work were still unfinished and the biggest job of them all was to persuade the Dark King. The hearsay was no longer a hearsay but a vicious reality. It was confirmed by the town dignitaries as although the King hadn't showed his repulsion on the fete yet he wasn't overjoyed with it. The reason behind it comes through the medium of Joy the barber, that a fight broke out between the royal couple due to the fete and queen was seriously angry with the King. Although the King had wooed his angry wife by now yet somewhere in him the rage against the fete is still intact and that wasn't a good sign for the natives. Therefore the town's committee had taken matters into their hands to anyhow persuade the King or else the natives will murder them for sure.

In the castle, the queen was seen sitting on the King's chesterfield chair and reading a book. She had her favourite lemon tea with her. Abruptly she heard the sound of twisting of the doorknob, she furrowed her brows as she looked at the door in curiosity. After a second the door was gently opened and incame her husband. She sighed. However she recalled that she was angry with him for fighting with her, hence she didn't say anything and looked back into her book. He saw that and sighed pitifully. Nevertheless presently he was here for some other business which ardently required her attention. Therefore he slowly strode towards her and stood near her. After that he cleared his throat to which she inwardly chuckled.
"Um. I........!!!!! Can I talk to you for a moment??? " he somehow formed a sentence. She closed her book and kept it aside and than looked at him.
"Why???? Am I not dumb!!!! " she said folding her arms. His face showed that he would start crying any moment.
"No you're not dumb!!! I am dumb!!! " he said in a voice not far away from crying. She rolled her eyes at him.
"No my Lord!!! You're the Dark King, how can you be dumb!!!! It's me who is dumb!!! " she said with gritted teeth and tears brimmed in his eyes. For a moment she felt bad for him but she knew she needed to teach him a lesson, he needs to learn how to control his temper. He wiped his tears from the corner of his eyes and sniffed.
"I am sorry!!! " he whispered as he sniffed.
"Sorry not accepted!!! " she declared and he looked at her heartbroken. He knew he had hurted her and was dealing with the consequences of that.
"Sharanya please!!!! " he pleaded but she turned back.
"If you have anything important to say than please.....if not than I am not free!!!! " her reply was clear cut which shattered his heart into million pieces. He sighed wiping his tears and started.
"I wanted to take you somewhere......wanted to show you something!!!! " he whispered unable to look at her. She looked at him in perplexity. What was he talking about??? However something in her told him to say yes.
"Fine but quickly!!!!" she told him folding her arms. He nodded as he beckoned her to egress out of the room with him. She did so and followed him to downstairs. He proceeded towards the throne room for some obscured reason and she obviously followed him. Nevertheless in the throne room, he went towards the throne and pulled up the curtains behind the throne. For a moment she was rigid when she saw a door behind the mauve curtains. Sums up why the curtains were never pulled up.
"Please!!! " he beckoned her to come inside and she followed him although curious and perplexed. Inside the door was a huge hall or some sort of it. For the most part it was void and the only thing occupying the hall was a grand desk, few chairs and a.......canvas. Her eyebrows furrowed.
"What is this??? " she couldn't control her curiosity and asked. He sighed as he looked at her with a sense of remorse and sadness in his eyes.
"Sharanya I want to tell you something.......but promise me you'll hear me first......after that whatever you want you can do!!!! " he whispered in a croaking voice as he looked at her with his teary eyes. She was scared now after all he seldom behaves like that. She ran towards him and cupped his face.
"Mr Singhala what has happened??? Is everything alright!!!! " she asked anxiously wiping his tears. He held her little hands in his and kissed them before starting.
"Here let me show it to you!!! " he said softly as he marched towards the painting and slowly turned it towards her. She gasped as she saw her own painting although the clothes she was wearing in the painting were alien to her as she couldn't remember wearing them.
"That's me but I don't remember wearing these clothes!!! " she chuckled but he was silent which obviously was perturbing. After a moment of pause he began.
"I told you that I saw you first time in the castle........." he said and she nodded with no scruple. He gulped as tears build up in the corner of his eyes.
"That's not true!!!! " he said and she gasped.
"Our story starts way before you broke my curse!!! " he sat on the chair with a thud and sniffed. He ran his fingers under his thick hairs.
"It all started when that yogi stumbled from infinity to my castle and divulged certain things which bewildered me.............."

Flashback

He marched with his army to Kailasa and with just one look of him made everybody positive that he was infuriated. The Lord of Kailasa sensed his arrival and quickly went to him before he could make it to his meditation spot. Now the prince of hell in the abode of Shiva was not a usual thing perhaps that's why the anxious and perturbed Gods reached the Kailasa to apprehend the situation.
"Yuvraaj!!!! I reckon you should ask your army to stay out meanwhile you and us have a good talk!!! " the fire God, Agni, was the first to speak. The trinity was silent as their is nothing in this entire universe which is unknown to them. The prince of hell just like everytime scowled at them.
"Why are you scared Agni??? Well you should be after I defeated Indra!!!! " he laughed and so did his army. The Gods were furious with his audacity.
"Ego is the biggest nemesis of a man!!! Throw it before it destroys you, Dark King!!! " the wind God said a little furious. Yuvraj rolled his eyes.
"I am not here to listen to you all just like a dog listens to his master!!!! Those numbskull humans worship you....I don't!!!! Besides I'm here for a different purpose!!! " he declared. The Gods wanted to retort but the trinity gestured them not to.
"And what's the purpose, prince!!! " asked Lord Vishnu. Yuvraj smirked.
"As if you don't know!!!!! Do you think you can fool me....huh!!!! Well pretending is the old habit of heaven and I have nothing to do with it!!!! " he said in disdain.
"Yuvraj my child!!! I know heaven has done injustice to you and your family!!! We highly regret it and have all the commiseration for you!!!! But now you are the King of the earth, please you can now forgive heaven and start cooperating with us!!!! " it was Lord Brahma this time.
"Regret......Commiseration!!! Huh!!! How long will you keep asking for apologies and for what????? You separated me from my family!!! My family sheds tears for me everyday, can you stop their tears!!! Huh!!!!! And my best friend Dev!!!! What about him??? Mahadev.....What reason would you provide for the misery of my best friend. The truth is, heaven has always been selfish and insensitive!!!! And now when I am returning you what you deserve, you guys are playing innocent!!!! Wow!!! I hold no respect for you all!!! Mahadev, I could expect them to do all this but not you!!!!! But you also supported them!!!! " the dark king yelled. The Gods were silent as his rage was justified in some ways. Now it was the turn of the greatest Lord to speak.
"What has already been done, can't be reversed!!!! That's the rule of this universe!!! But whatever happens, happens for a reason!!!! But I am certain you aren't here to yell on us!!! " Lord Shiva was calm. Yuvraj smirked.
"Precisely!!!! That yogi, he uttered some imbecile things which although sounded illogical yet had some truth in them!!!! He mentioned regarding my undoing by the hands of some human!!!! Tell me about that human, I'll finish him with my own hands!!! " he declared and the Gods were tensed and for the first time the trinity too seemed anxious.
"No one is entitled to know about their future!!!! We can't tell you anything but you won't die, that's certain!!! " Lord Brahma told him but he wasn't the one to listen.
"Either you tell me regarding that singular person, or you see me slaughtering your precious humans!!! " he smirked and this time the Gods were anxious.
"Yuvraj please try to understand!!! Whatever you are doing, it leads to hazardous consequences both for hell and heaven!!! " Lord Vishnu said anxiously. But the King was all the more furious after their persistent denial.
"Fine, don't wanna tell me!!!! OK!!! Now your beloved earth will face the wrath of the Dark King!!! " with that he marched outside the Kailasa, leaving the Gods apprehensive and perturbed.
"Mahadev, the earth is in danger!!!! Why don't you do something??? " Moon God was anxious but Lord Shiva was silent.
"Everything in this universe happens for a reason!!! " with that Lord Shiva turned to walk back to his meditation spot and although the Gods couldn't apprehend but because he was the supremest, nobody could challenge his words. However Dravid who accompanied the King to Kailasa was a bit perplexed.
"Lord, what will we do now???? These Gods are so stubborn!!!! How can we get back to the castle empty handed?? " said Dravid. The King smirked.
"Who said we'll reach the castle empty handed, Dravid!!!! Perhaps you didn't see the trembling moon god!!! He knows that particular person and I intend to extract out the truth from him!!!! Invite him to our place tomorrow!!!! " he said with a cruel smile and Dravid watched his Lord in amazement.

The next day the rendezvous was fixed with the Moon God. And it was fixed on the bank of the Ganga. The King was already there, the army was hiding in the thickets and now everyone awaited the arrival of the Moon God. Few minutes later he was on the scene, a little apprehensive.
"Oh Moon God, I am so glad to see you!!! " yuvraj said with pseudo excitement which only made the God more tensed.
"Why did you call me??? " he asked. The King laughed.
"Listen Moon God, I......I just want to know about that human!!!! You tell me about him and I will let you go unharmed!!!!" he said folding his arms. Moon God looked at him in shock.
"No ne'er, if I knew you had called me for this purpose, I would have ne'er came!!! " he said as he tried to go back but in time the King grabbed his throat.
"I don't appreciate no!!! Predominantly from the heaven!!!! So be a good boy and tell me!!! " he demanded to know, trying to choke him. He struggled and tried to make for a run only to be grabbed once again by the King. He grappled his neck and dragged him close to the river, so his face was just inches away from the water. He was trying to threaten him, however in fear a vision sneaked out of his eye and took a form of a picture, forming in the water. The King casually looked in the water only to fell agape as the picture formed was of a beauty whom we know as sharanya. She seemed to be giggling in the picture and the King could only gape in the water. He was so drowned in her beauty that his grip on the God loosened and once he was away from the water, the vision disappeared, leaving him staggered.
"Who.........Who is this.......beauty??? " he asked his eyes ne'er leaving the water, in a hope to see her again. The God was tensed.
"She's no one!!!! " he said a bit afraid. The King had obsession building up in his eyes.
"She's a beauty.........A pure beauty!!!!!! She's a nymph queen, I reckon!!!!!! " he whispered still staring at the water.
"How can someone be so beautiful??? " he whispered running his fingers under his hairs and than laughing like demented.
"Moon God, tell me where can I find her..........." he asked.
"I don't know!!! " God lied.
"You.....You don't understand Moon God!!!! I have fallen in love with her.........Just a single glance of her, has made me go insane!!??! I need her, Moon God!!!!! I need her!!!!! She's mine, just mine!!!! " he said obsessively and the God knew he should evade the scene. He found a chance and he left the scene, leaving the King a bit furious and more crazy.

It was late in the night when the King was engrossed in painting a picture. Dravid came to him and saw the painting. It was that beauty. Since the King had seen her, he has been acting crazy and obsessively. He wasn't eating nor sleeping, just painting her picture.
"The red colour was finished, than where did you find the red colour My Lord!!! " Dravid asked and abruptly his eyes landed on a big slash on his palm. He stiffened.
"Lord, have you gone crazy, you literally used your own blood to paint this picture!!!! " Dravid said agape but the King's attention was only on the beauty in front of him.
"Shut your mouth, nasty wolf!!!!! Don't disturb me!!! " he said gliding his fingers on the picture.
"My Lord, it has been three hours!!!! How long will you stare at this picture!!! " asked Dravid a bit agitated.
"Until she's here in my castle and in my arms!!! " he declared as he marched towards the desk, placing his hands on the desk.
"Dravid I now realise why the Gods didn't wanted me to see this beauty!!! She is destined to be mine, I know that!!!! But they didn't wanted this to happen......." he looked back at the picture and started.
"But I will get her at all costs. And I know how!!!!!! " he smirked viciously tracing the picture with his fingers.
"How??? " Dravid asked perplexed.
"She is the daughter of the Moon God, I am certain!!!! Day after tomorrow is the day when the Kids of the moon come to the earth to visit the Shiva temple!!!! And I will wait for that moment when she comes there and when she does, I will forcibly bring her to this castle and marry her!!!! " he told him the plan and Dravid cackled.
"And the poor Gods won't be able to do anything!!!! " said Dravid.
"Nobody can come between me and my beauty, not even her!!!! " he laughed madly as he stared at her painting with obsession and mania.
                           To be continued.........